Facilities for the accommodation of
travelers were quite lacking in the colonial period. The nearest thing to a
hotel in those days was the inn (sometimes called, in this country, tavern),
which was little more than a glorified flophouse. It was not till 1829 that any
attempt was made anywhere on earth to afford travelers some privacy and some
degree of home comfort. This startling innovation was introduced with the
opening of the first real hotel in the world, the Tremont House, at Tremont and
Beacon Streets in Boston. It was enlarged several times in later years, and was
finally converted into offices, now being known as the Tremont Building. The
former hotel lounge became, for many years, the main store of S. S. Pierce’s
grocery, which moved out of there only lately.

*

We have once been asked: “Why is New York
covered by a little pocket guide, while Boston requires an encyclopedia?” This
is a slightly exaggerated statement, but there is some truth in it and the main
reason is the immensely greater number of streets. It is, however, true, that no
Boston guide book yet published is adequate in its coverage of the subjects the
visitor needs to know to get around, so that one guide book gives very little
information on the whereabouts of street numbers, while another gives nothing at
all about transit; and several different kinds are needed in combination to give
an idea of “how to get there.” We know of an unpublished guide book that has
complete local transit and street-number information, as well as adequate maps;
but it is no good to visitors as long as it remains unpublished.*
In the meantime, the question at the head of this item must remain without a
good and proper answer.

*

The group of hospitals on the top of
Mission Hill are occupying the ground of the formerly used Parker Hill
Reservoir, which was originally built to supply water to Roxbury. The old
reservoir walls are still to be seen on the west side of the hospitals.

*

During the last national election it was
noticed that Wendell Street comes next to Franklin Street in Boston.

*

There is a road in Lexington called
“Journey’s End.”

____________

* Sidis
wrote elsewhere: "The so-called "Geprodis System" of guide books, having
been contributed by its inventor to help General Projects get started, is the
first project being worked on as a means of initial financing without either
governmental or employee financing." . . . For a first project, it is suggested that it be attempted to
publish a series of guides to the local transportation systems of various urban
and metropolitan areas. This type of guide-book has never been adequately
attempted anywhere in America, is capable of being worked out for any such area,
and is work that will be useful in numerous ways in peace-times; it is a type of
thing that has always been in great demand among travelers, whether on business
or for pleasure, as well as among local residents. Estimated amount of initial
capital, $1000 to $1500. I am ready to organise such a project, contributing a
guide system I have devised. Several volumes, including two for the Boston area
and one for the District of Columbia, are now ready to go to the printer, and
several more are almost ready; so that the project could be showing returns very
early in the game." ... "The guide books project (which has been given some publicity in connection with
the plan) happens to be merely the first project now in progress under the
General Projects plan. The plan calls for a chain of various types of
projects―to be devised."―co8
See also co4;
co9;
co11.